Guide to IRC and ICQ
Guide to IRC and ICQ
This document has been prepared as a response to inquiries by chat board participants about using IRC and ICQ.
Note: Click on the hand 
to return to the Contents from anywhere in the document.
Introduction Internet Relay Chat, IRC Internet CQ, ICQ IRC - How it Works Client Programs IRC Networks Identification and Nicknames Once you are Logged On Finding the Channel you want What's DCC (Direct Client to Client) To Send a Brief Message ICQ - Very Brief Summary Where to get it IRC Security Common Problems IRC - The channel appears to be dead IRC - Everyone ignores you on the channel IRC - Netsplits ICQ - Messages won't go through ICQ - Chat: User is frozen ICQ - Your Computer Crashes or Freezes ICQ - Bugs in some versions Summary
Sooner or later, as a participant in a chat board, you are likely to discover that some of the friends you know are meeting each other on something called IRC or ICQ. This guide will help you get connected with either of these services, and help you find your friends once you are set up.
Let's start with a brief introduction to each service.
IRC is a public access service made available by a large number of servers which are interconnected in several networks such as EFNet, Undernet and DALnet. IRC allows individual private chats as well as channels where groups can congregate. File transfers are also supported. IRC client software (what you run on your PC) is available from several sources, as freeware or shareware. IRC servers are provided by universities and some commercial operators. Server access is free of charge and does not require registration of any kind.
The name comes from CQ, the old radio morse code call for "calling any station". ICQ is similar to IRC except that only a small group of proprietary servers is used for worldwide access. It allows private chats but unlike IRC the chats can contain three or more people. There are also "channels" of a sort, but these don't seem to be widely used. ICQ provides for file transfers. ICQ tends to be run as a background task and most users keep it on whenever they are online. ICQ has a mechanism so you can see if friends are online; both visible and audible alerts are provided.
As with most internet protocols, IRC is based on clients and servers. The client is the program that runs on your PC (or Mac), or in a few cases on your ISP's Unix machine. The server provides the connection between client programs, and handles commands and responses.
IRC clients are available from a variety of sources. The most popular IRC client for Windows is mIRC, which you can find at TUCOWS. Other clients available for PCs include VIRC and pIRCh. Mac users should find a copy of IRCLE. These programs are either freeware or shareware, and are easy to download and install.
If you have a connection to a Unix shell account with your ISP (or any ISP you can reach via Telnet) you may be able to use IRC with the client available on your ISP's machine. Try typing IRC or IRCII using the following syntax:
IRC servers may operate independently (in which case all users that want to talk to each other must connect to the same server) or may be interconnected to form large networks. The three largest networks are called Undernet, EFNet and DALnet. If you want to talk to a specific other user, the two of you must be on the same network, though not necessarily on the same server.
To connect to a network, look through the server list that comes with your IRC client, and pick one fairly close to you geographically. Then click the connect button and, if all is well, you should see the logon sequence complete itself.
When you are connected to an IRC server you are identified by a nickname or nick. On most networks this nick may be up to 9 characters long (DALnet allows longer nicks). Your client program will have a field in which to type your nick before you log on; most have space for an alternative in case yours is already in use by someone else. Nicks must be unique at any time; you can't use one that someone else has already logged on with. You don't own your nick (again, except on DALnet which allows you to register a nick and prevent others from using it).
Other users can see if you are online by typing
This will return a string something like
The first line tells you the internet address (IP address) of the user of the nick. The second tells you which server he/she is connected to. The string somers@dialup133.gobbledygook.net is often called the host mask and is a convenient way of identifying the user of the nick. While this lets you see if you have indeed found the right person, it has serious security implications if you want to remain anonymous.
Now that you're connected to a server, you'll probably want to join a channel. Some programs (like mIRC) pop up a list of channels which you can modify to your liking. Alternatively, type
and you will join the channel of that name. If the channel doesn't exist, it will be created and you will be the only member (at first).
You should understand that channels have an ephemeral existence. They are dynamically created when the first person joins, and disappear when the last person leaves. On most networks no one "owns" a channel (DALnet is an exception; channels can be registered there). You can make a new private channel any time you want to chat with a group of friends.
If you just want to talk to one person, without joining a channel, it's easy. First find out if they are online and connected to the network you're on. Type:
using the nick of the person you are looking for. If the response is "No such nick/channel" there's not much point in going further. If you get a response identifying the person, first check to see if it really seems to be him/her (you'll get to recognize the host mask that is displayed). Since nicks are also temporary (except on DALnet) it's often the case that someone you don't know is using the same nick as someone you do. Note that they both can't be online at the same time; within a network nicks must be unique; no one else in the world can use your nick while you are using it.
To set up a private chat just type
This will open a new window and you can start typing to your friend. An alternative is to type:
which will also open a window. In this case you must wait for your friend to accept the request before you can type, however it does give you more privacy (see below).
Since you're a chat board user (that's who this page is for, remember?) your best bet is to ask on the board which network and channel is a good meeting place, or watch for other posts which identify a suitable channel and tell when it is/will be on. You could also email one of the other posters to the board and ask them. I won't try to list any channels here; they are often jealously guarded by the "regular" users who don't invite much publicity.
There are two ways to chat with another individual: /query and /dcc chat. They look almost the same to the users, but they work quite differently.
A chat initiated by /query makes use of the server to relay information between the two client programs. You type something and press ENTER. Your message is sent to the server, which forwards it to the other party (using the server of the other party as a relay station if you are not both connected to the same one). You must remain connected to the server or the chat disappears. Since all your messages are routed through the server, it is theoretically possible for the server administrator to look at what you are typing. (This is rather unlikely; one of the large networks typically has over 30,000 users at any one time.)
A chat initiated by /dcc chat works differently. First of all, your client queries the server to find out the internet address (IP address) of the other party. Your client then sends a request directly to the other party's client program to set up the chat. Note that the server is used ONLY to find out the address information; from that point on the messages go directly from client to client (hence DCC, Direct Client to Client). Not only does this make it impossible for a server administrator to watch your messages, it means that, once the chat is established you can even disconnect from the network completely and the chat will continue. If you do this you will disappear for any other users, and they won't be able to bother you while you're in an important conversation.
Note that if you lose the DCC connection you will have to reconnect to a server in order to re-establish the chat.
Sometimes while you are chatting in a channel you may want to send a brief private message to one of the other people in the channel. Just type
and the text will be sent privately to the user you choose. If you mistype the nick, an error message will be sent to your status window.
There is a shortcut for doing this with many clients; just hit the TAB key and the /msg {nick} for the last person who sent you a message will appear. Then just type the text and hit ENTER. If you hit tab repeatedly, it will cycle through all the various people who have sent you messages during your session.
Warning: do not hit CTRL-ENTER by mistake; if you do your private message will be posted to the channel instead. This can be very embarrassing. CTRL-ENTER is used in ICQ as a shortcut to send a message and if you get into the habit it's pretty easy to do it by accident on IRC.
With all the features of IRC, why would anyone want to use ICQ? It seems that they do basically the same thing. Here's why I use ICQ for most of my private conversations.
Wow. So why would I not want to use ICQ instead of IRC all the time?
ICQ is available from Mirabilis. It's free; check occasionally to make sure you have the most recent version.
One of the nasty habits of IRC for those who wish to remain anonymous is that it reports the internet address of your host computer when you do a /whois command. There's not much you can do about this, but there are a few things.
Of course, it really MAY be dead. Quite often the various people on the channel end up in private chats and ignore everyone else. However, it's also possible that you may be disconnected from the server (this happens sometimes, and it is invisible to you). To find out, type:
where yournick is your own nick. You should see a message like:
in your status window. If you don't see this within 10 seconds or so, you are probably disconnected from the server. Click on disconnect, then reconnect. If you can't reconnect, select a different server and try again.
Well, what can I say? Maybe you are so obnoxious or boring that that's the way it is! On the other hand, you may just be lagged. This means that there is a long time delay between you and the other users. This may be caused by temporary problems anywhere on the net, but it is usually because the server you're connected to is taking its own sweet time to talk to the other servers in the network. This is often followed by a netsplit (see below).
Check this out by typing
where nick is the nick of someone else on the channel. Try it for two or three of the others. You will probably appear to get no response (if you are patient you may get a response as much as 5 minutes later!). If you get no response to this ping, but a good response when you ping yourself, your server is lagged and the other people on the network are ignoring you because they can't see you.
This can lead to some amusing situations; you will find people answering your questions several minutes after you type them, and the conversation can appear confusing to say the least!
The solution may be to disconnect and try another server; if this doesn't work the lag may be closer to home and may affect more than one server.
You're happily reading the channel and right before your eyes, everyone starts to quit! Was it something you said? Naw, if there is a mass exodus what has happened is that one or more servers have lost contact with the rest of the network. This is called a netsplit.
If you are the only person using your sever, and everyone else disappears, then it's your server that has disconnected. If only a few people disappear then it is probably another server somewhere.
The solution is simple; do nothing and wait. Usually in a couple of minutes everyone will automatically reappear. If this doesn't happen, disconnect and try another server.
You try to send the message, and it doesn't go. It just sits there forever with the little scrolling heads going by. Why? There is no direct path between you and the other user. ICQ messages usually do not go through the server; it's just used for addressing.
Solution? With some versions of ICQ you have the option to send the message through the server. This should work. If you don't have that option on your version, your stuck. Try again later.
What can I say? It happens. If you are in an ICQ chat and the other user appears to freeze in mid-line, there's a network delay. If he doesn't unfreeze in a few seconds, try sending him a message. Sometimes it helps for both of you to go offline and try to reconnect.
Yeah, well, shit happens! ICQ tends to do this, though not very often. The solution is to turn off the power and reboot. Don't worry, it probably won't do it again for a few weeks.
I have encountered the following bugs in the Windows 3.1 version of ICQ (this version uses Win32S). These bugs have been confirmed with other users of the same version.
Outgoing file transfers don't work. The program sends the first 2048 bytes of the file and then hangs.
Remote color and font changes made during a chat don't work. You have to close the chat and start a new one to see the changes.
Not much more to say. Read the help files and FAQs that come with IRC and ICQ. These programs are very sophisticated and there is a lot you can do with them if you take the time to learn.
or go to Somersault's Tech Forum.